Catalan for Portuguese speakers
You already know more Catalan than you think. Of the 2,264 everyday words in Cognata, 1,626 have a Portuguese cognate — the same word, reshaped by centuries of speech. Start from those, learn the regular changes that link the two languages, and keep the false friends in sight.
Sets your pairing to Portuguese → Catalan and opens the cognates.
- share a source
- 72%
- inherited on both sides
- 25%
- to learn fresh
- 28%
2,264 words compared
Words you already know
Everyday words whose Portuguese and Catalan forms come from the same source.
The sound laws between them
Regular changes that turn a Portuguese word into its Catalan cognate — learn one and it pays out across hundreds of words.
- Stressed short E breaks into iee [ɛ] (no diphthong)e [ɛ] (no diphthong); i next to a palatal (llit)PETRAMpedrapedra
- Stressed short O breaks into ue / uo / euo [ɔ] (no diphthong)o [ɔ] (no diphthong)NOVUMnovonou
- French stressed free A becomes ea (kept)a (kept)MAREmarmar
- French fronts long U to [y]u [u] (kept)u [u] (kept)LŪNAMlualluna
- AU becomes oou (said [o] in Brazil)oAURUMouroor
- French vowel + nasal becomes a nasal vowelnasal vowel or diphthong too (pão, bom, fim)oral vowel; final n after the stress lost (pa, vi)PĀNEMpãopa
- Spanish initial F- becomes h- (silent)f- keptf- keptFĪLIUM (fr. from nom. FĪLIUS)filhofill
- Voiceless stops between vowels softenb (v) d gb (v) d g; p t c again at the end of a word (amic, agut)VĪTAMvidavida
- C before E and Is (c, ç); z [z] between vowelss (c, ç); between vowels lost, or u at the end (veí, deu)CAELUMcéucel
- French CA becomes chaca keptca keptCABALLUMcavalocavall
- Initial I- (J-) and G before E, Ij, g [ʒ]j, g [ʒ]IOCUMjogojoc
- B and V merge in Spanishv kept; B between vowels → vmerged as in Spanish (Central Catalan); v kept in Balearic and parts of ValenciaVĪNUMvinhovi
- Germanic W- becomes gu- / g-gu- ([gw] before a, o; [g] before e, i)gu- ([gw] before a, o; [g] before e, i)Germanic *WERRAguerraguerra
- L before a consonant becomes ual → ou, oi in some words (outro, foice); written l elsewhere, said [w] in Brazill kept (altre, falç)ALTERUMoutroaltre
- CTit (i + t)it, t (the i absorbed by the vowel: nit, fet)NOCTEMnoitenit
- L + yodlh [ʎ]ll [ʎ]FOLIAMfolhafulla
- C'L inside a wordlh [ʎ]ll [ʎ]OCULUMolhoull
- CL-, PL-, FL- at the start of a wordch- [ʃ]cl- pl- fl- (kept)CLĀVEMchaveclau
- NN, GN and N + yodnh [ɲ]; NN → nny [ɲ], also from NN (any)ANNUManoany
- S + consonant at the start of a wordes-es-STELLAMestrelaestrella
- French loses S before a consonant (^)s kepts keptFESTAMfestafesta
- Italian assimilates clusterssimplified: pt → t, mn → n; x → ss or ix [jʃ]simplified: pt → t, mn → n; x → ix [ʃ]SEPTEMseteset
- Final vowels-o, -a, -e kept (said [u], [ɐ], [i]); -e dropped after a single r, l, s, z, ndropped except -a (said [ə]); -e kept after clustersLUPUMlobollop
- Plurals: -s or -i-s, -es (from the accusative)-s, -es (from the accusative)LUPŌS (acc.) / LUPĪ (nom.)lobosllops
- -TĀTEM: -dad, -té, -tà-dade (-tade after a consonant)-tatCĪVITĀTEMcidadeciutat
- -TIŌNEM: learned -ción, inherited -zón-ção (learned and inherited alike: nação, razão)-ció (learned); inherited -ó (raó, tió)RATIŌNEMrazãoraó
- -ĀRIUM: -ero, -ier, -aio-eiro, -eira-er, -eraCABALLĀRIUMcavaleirocavaller
- Adverbs in -mente / -ment-mente-mentCLĀRĀ MENTEclaramenteclarament
- Single L between vowels: lost in Portuguese, r in Romanianlost (céu, fio, cor)l keptFĪLUMfiofil
- Portuguese loses single N between vowelslost, nasalizing the vowel (lã, mão); later often oral (lua, boa) or nh (vinho)n kept; lost where it became final (mà; see final-n)LĀNAMlãllana
- Romanian turns velars into labialsit, x [ʃ], nh; qu, guit/t, ix [ʃ], ny; qu, guOCTŌoitovuit
- Romanian T, D, S before i become ț, z, șkept; t, d said [tʃ], [dʒ] before i in Brazil (dia)t, d, s keptDĪCEREdizerdir
- Catalan drops -n at the end of a wordnasal vowel or diphthong (pão, vinho, bom)lost (pa, vi); back in the plural (pans, vins)PĀNEMpãopa
False friends to watch
No classic traps between these two in Cognata yet — but every word page flags the ones it knows.
Words to learn fresh
Common words where Catalan went its own way.